Paint the pastry with a little milk, then sprinkle with demerara sugar.

Put the whole pie dish on a baking tray/sheet to catch any runaway juices, and pop it on the middle shelf of the oven. Bake for 25 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 175°C/350°F and bake for another 35 minutes, or until the crust is golden all over and the juices have gone jammy.

Take the pie out of the oven and leave it on a cooling rack til it’s almost room temperature.

Serve with something creamy — ice-cream or double cream or whipped cream or custard or creamy yoghurt or… — to offset the acidity of the fruit.

Notes:¹The Four and Twenty Blackbirds crust recipe uses apple-cider vinegar ‘for tenderness and tang’. I didn’t have any lying around, but I did have a lemon, and it did work!

²I used a combination of plums, apricots and apriums — some very soft, some still a bit unripe — and about two handfuls of small sweet cherries. This may sound extravagant somewhere like Sydney, where even in Summer that much stone fruit can be unattainable/unafforable. So I say the following with all sincerity: this pie would be delicious made with half fresh fruit, and half tinned apricots and peaches. You could also use all peaches, all nectarines or all plums (etc.) depending on what you can get your hands on. But do try to get a combination of soft and firm — the latter will give you the tart kick that makes this pie so good.

³As previously explained, some people have a knack for producing jammy pies. I don’t, so I cheat, and I encourage you to do likewise.

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These are the recipes of The Lucky Baker.

Usually experimental. Never perfect. Usually dependant on what’s in season and what’s in (or not in) my kitchen. Lucky only in the sense that the more you work at something, the more fortunate the results.

I am…

...The Lucky Baker. An Australian in New York City. A proofreader. A baker of cookies and pies and cakes (sometimes). Still getting to know sourdough, Fahrenheit, and American butter.